


Play with me

by NinjaHero2002



Category: Coco (2017), Disney - All Media Types, Kubo and the Two Strings (2016)
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), I Will Go Down With This Ship, I promes this will be good, I really ship them I don't know why, M/M, They are both 16
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-17
Updated: 2018-12-13
Packaged: 2019-08-03 10:40:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,384
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16324691
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NinjaHero2002/pseuds/NinjaHero2002
Summary: Miguel knew that guitar was unpredictable, it still had magic inside of it, but maybe, just maybe, the results of playing with a magic guitar weren't so bad.The petals floated and soared around him as he played, they danced around him, they danced to the beat of the music, he closed his eyes, he could still felt them, flying, dancing, he felt them without a care in the world, he didn’t opened his eyes, until he remembered that the last time the cempasúchil's petals did that he ended up really away from home, but unfortunately it was too late.





	1. Chapter 1

Every musician has their inspiration, for most of them is love, romantic or platonic feeling that filled their souls, for some others it was life, the mere fact of being alive was the only thing they needed for inspiration, for others, it was sometimes random things and objects, like an old picture, or an old box with stuff, or the stars, for Miguel, it was the moon. The moon was his inspiration, it was beautiful, as he grew up and started to experiment with his own music, he started to realize why a lot of people were obsessed with writing songs to the moon, it was just... magical.

Miguel was playing the guitar, A, F, G the sound was soft, it wasn't any song just random chords, F, G, D, the soft sound created a soft breeze, it made the cempasúchil's petals flew near him, they followed him everywhere he went ever since he got the guitar of papá Hector, he loved that guitar, it was really special to him, he had that in mind as he played F, G, A.

The music made a good atmosphere, it matched with the night, it was a fresh night, the stars were bright and visible from his hideout in the roof, and the moon, wow, that moon was inspiring indeed, so white it almost looked silver, beautiful was the only world that could fit to describe it. That moon made him so happy it filled him with a feeling that made him want to create music. So that's what he did, he played randomly but at the same time melodiously, it was an enchanting sound.

The petals floated and soared around him as he played, they danced around him, they danced to the beat of the music, he closed his eyes, he could still felt them, flying, dancing, he felt them without a care in the world, he didn’t opened his eyes, until he remembered that the last time the cempasúchil's petals did that he ended up really away from home, but unfortunately it was too late.

* * *

 

The moment the flower petals stopped flying he wasn’t home anymore. How did he know that? you may ask, simple before he closed his eyes it was nightfall, now it seemed to be late noon, almost sunset.

‘Did I traveled back in time?’ Miguel thought it seemed reasonable somehow until he noticed he was no longer in the family’s shoe shop’s roof, in fact, he appeared to be in the middle of some sort of plazuela, and the people didn’t quite look Mexican.

Said people were making a pretty good job ignoring him, they walked by, some of them looked at him curiously for short moments, some others didn't even bother to glance.

'Where the heck am I?' Miguel thought scared, he was screwed, not only was he lost in a strange place but he also was probably late for breakfast. He started to freak out a little, clinging to his guitar until his knuckles were white, he was panting and starting to flinch, but he didn't notice it.

He was about to have a big panic attack until a soft melody snapped him back into reality. He looked up slowly, carefully looking for the source of that soft melody. He founded the source indeed, about half a mile away, the soft beautiful melody was created by some sort of weird guitar (a Shamisen) and the owner of the said guitar was what Miguel thought the prettiest girl he had ever seen, she was sitting on the floor cross-legged, only paying attention to the instrument. 

Miguel enchanted by the sound and the looks of who he thought was a girl approached mindlessly when he was barely some meters away, he could notice that this person had long black silk hair, most of it was tied up in a short pony-tail and the rest covered her ears and her left eye, she was wearing what appeared to be a red blouse and black leggings, Miguel looked closer, more carefully, he was shocked when he realized that the person he was staring at wasn't a young woman, but instead a young man, he didn't look like a man, to be honest, not only it was odd in Mexico to found a man with long hair, here it was common apparently, but also his pale face looked so delicate that he just couldn't classify as manly. Miguel gasped when he realized that the young stranger's hair wasn't exactly covering his eye, but an eyepatch, he regretted gasping the second it left his mouth, luckily the stranger was too caught up in his guitar to notice him. 

The strange young man started to prove his guitar louder, people came near, they formed a circle around him, Miguel was now part of the circle. The young man turned around and from a bag, he pulled out what seemed to be sheets of paper. 

"If you most blink do it now! Everybody! come near! as I tell you the amazing love story between the brave warrior Hanzo and the beautiful moon princess!" he yelled as he stood up dramatically, he pointed several people in the crowd, but his eye never met Miguel's, he didn't mind tough, Miguel watched astonished and amazed when the teen started to play, the moment he started everything became magical.  


	2. Chapter 2

Miguel watched amazed, the second the young stranger started to play the paper folded in the air, on its own, creating life-like animated characters, what seemed to be a soldier with a sword and a nice lady, the characters moved on their own, acting everything the young man narrated.

  
“Long before time had a name, the brave samurai warrior, Hanzo offended the moon king by defeating all of his armies....” he narrated with an experienced voice, it wasn’t the deepest voice Miguel had heard, but it definitely wasn’t feminine. “The moon king was furious, his rage could not be controlled, so he decided to send his older daughter, the warrior moon princess to fight Hanzo to death.”

Miguel held his guitar tighter in front of him, he was actually really hooked by the story.

“The princess descended from the sky, she and Hanzo fought, with all of their might!”

It was an accident, when Miguel moved his finger, causing one string of the guitar to make a small sound, that not only interrupted the story but also called everyone’s attention. Once the people really looked at the Mexican boy gasps were inevitable. It was because of everything, his skin color, his short hair, his wide brown eyes his clothes and his strange guitar.

Miguel smiled sheepishly, and ashamed, he could hear the angry murmurs of the people complaining about the interruption and some others wondering who was he.

Miguel smile slowly fainted, he looked around half trying to find a friendly face, half trying to find a way out, he looked at everyone, they all looked astonished or even disgusted, then he locked his eyes with the storyteller, his eye was focused on him, his face didn’t looked disgusted nor shocked, he looked more like he was amazed, Miguel’s face copied the storyteller’s expression, they stayed like that staring dumbfounded at each other for a while, for the people the awkward moment seemed to last forever, thankfully an old woman in what appeared to be a blue dress yelled. “Are you planning on playing that thing?! Or what?!”

The storyteller send her an annoyed glance, Miguel knew she was talking to the storyteller, he knew she wanted him to keep going with the story, then why did he start to play his guitar, he panicked.

Everyone looked at Miguel as he successfully copied the melody of the story teller’s music, It sounded different than the shamisen, but it sounded nice, everyone stared at him, not really knowing what to think, it was the storyteller himself the first one to smile at him, he smiled softly but it could be noticed, for a moment Miguel returned the smile but then the rest of the people called his attention, he silently pleaded the storyteller to continue, luckily he got the message, he snapped back into reality and started to play too, while the music was playing the paper figures came back to life, almost simultaneously cempasúchil’s petals appeared out of nowhere and joined them, they soared around the characters, almost like dancing. The storyteller’s eye widened in amazement, he looked at Miguel and smiled at him before continuing his story.

“They fought as if there was no tomorrow! They fought with courage for their honor! The fought for long hours, until their fight became a graceful dance, while this they realized how synchronized they were, they realized they were made for each other, when the moon princess let her guard down for a fraction of a second Hanzo stopped her and held her, and he pronounced four words that changed her life forever.”

Miguel was playing mindlessly, all of his attention was focused on the voice of the young man.

“I love you... princess.” The old woman tried to guess the four words.

“You are my quest.” The storyteller whispered barely audible for the public while making eye contact with Miguel.

‘Was it weird that I got goosebumps?’ Miguel thought. ‘Nah, it was just the story.’

A ringing bell made them jump at the same time so they stopped the music abruptly, the paper figures and the flowers died simultaneously, the young storyteller looked at the bell, without even glancing at Miguel he turned back, picked up a bag that was now full of coins and picked up the paper.

“Sorry friends, but I’m afraid that is all for today” he said with a sheepishly smile. The people sighed in disappointment.

“But, but what happened to the moon princess?” A young girl asked him.

“You’ll have to find out tomorrow” he declared as he dispersed the crowd, and started to leave.

Miguel stud there frozen, the people were so disappointed that they seemed to have forgotten about him, he reacted until he realized the storyteller was leaving.

“Wait!” He yelled, he called everyone’s attention again, but it didn’t matter because he was already running behind the young narrator, guitar in hand and everything.

The old woman smirked after they left and then elbowed a random man. “Hmm-hu looks like some is getting some company.” She said mischievously. “About time!”

* * *

 

Miguel had to run a bit to finally catch up with the narrator who was leaving the town. “Wait! hold up!” He exclaimed as he ran.

When he finally caught up with him he slipped and fall down his back, “owww” he groaned in pain, shutting his eyes cause the impact, while his eyes were closed he could listen to laughter, it was almost a childish laugh, he opened his eyes just to see the amused face of the storyteller trying to cover his giggling with his hand, Miguel frowned.

“Hahaha, sorry, here let me help you” he said as he offered Miguel a hand.

Miguel started at the hand above him for a moment before he took it, he had to fight the urge to flinch because said hand was ice cold.

“You’re freezing!” Miguel exclaimed to the storyteller as he helped him to get up.

“A cold helping hand is better than no helping hand” the narrator said with a smirk.

“True” Miguel admitted, once he got up they started at each other’s face awkwardly for some minutes, until they realized they were still holding hands, Miguel pulled his away and looked at the floor ashamed, he could fell the embarrassment flushing in his cheeks.

“So, am I one of the lucky few who gets to know the new foreign’s name from his own lips?” The narrator asked breaking the awkward moment.

“Uh? O yes! Miguel! Umm... my name is Miguel” he said dumbly, making the storyteller giggle softly, “and.. umm.. and you are?”

“Kubo.” The narrator informed him.

‘Like cube in spanish’ Miguel thought, but he knew it was better if he didn’t mention that. “Kubo uh, that’s an unusual name.”

Kubo smirked. “Says the one whose name is Mi-jel, What kind of name is that?”

“Okay, first of all, it’s Miguel, with a ‘g’ like in ‘get’ and second of all it’s the most common Mexican name, it’s side by side with ‘Juan’, and ‘José’” Miguel informed.

“Mexican?” Kubo asked confused.

“Yes you know the country of Mexico...” he said but the look of Kubo’s face told him everything. “You don’t know”

“No, why? Should I?” He said nonchalantly as he turned around.

“Well yeah you should, it’s general culture.” Says the man who has no idea where the hell he was.

“Well you can tell me all about your ‘general culture’ as we walk because I’m already late thanks to you Mi-guel” Kubo said smirking as he started to walk away.

Miguel stood frozen for a moment until Kubo turned around.

“Are you coming, or would you rather stay here for the night?” Kubo asked sarcastically.

Miguel looked around to the forest surrounding the pathway. “Nop! I’m coming with you.”

Kubo smiled amused at the foreign’s fear, he started to walk again when they were side by side.

* * *

 

The walk was calm, it almost comforted Miguel from the fact that he was lost in what he really thought was centuries in the past, it was the only explanation. Kubo said that he was in Japan, but wasn’t Japan a technology advanced country? Okay yes maybe this was a small village, but there had to be at least one car. Also when Miguel told Kubo about Mexico he laughed because he thought Miguel was inventing it all.

“Boxes where small people appeared! You sure have quite an imagination!” Kubo said amused after Miguel talked him off the TV.

“It’s true! Listen I think I’m from the future!” Miguel said astonished.

“Like, tomorrow?” Kubo asked him.

“No I mean centuries for now!” Miguel exclaimed.

Kubo stopped walking and faced Miguel.

“Prove it” he demanded smirking.

Miguel frowned. “Fine” he said before taking out of his pocket his smartphone and turning it on in front of Kubo.

His smirk immediately dropped his eye widened, he was in an awe. He slowly stretched out his hands to grab the smartphone. “What kind of witchcraft is this?” He asked as he took the phone from Miguel’s hand.

“It’s called a smartphone, and it’s very fragile so don’t drop it.” Miguel said. But Kubo was to absorb by the phone he wasn’t really listening.

Kubo tapped the screen sometimes and the screensaver of a guitar changed into a keyboard asking for the password. Kubo started to press all the buttons mindlessly.

“No wait! You’ll block it!” Miguel said worriedly as he gently took the phone away from Kubo and placing it safely back in his pocket. “Now you believe me?”

Kubo nodded and slightly started to smile excitedly, how many times does someone from the future comes to town? Kubo looked up, it was then when Miguel realized that they were climbing a mountain, Kubo signaled Miguel to keep walking.

“So what brings you here mysterious time traveler? Did you came centuries from the future just to play with me?” Kubo asked playfully.

“No, actually, it’s a long story...” Miguel sighed.

“Well then you’re in luck! I happen to like long stories” Kubo said smirking. Miguel smiled back.


	3. Chapter 3

Miguel told him everything, since the moment mamá Imelda thought that papá Hector abandoned her, he explained how music was banned from his family, and despite that, he wanted still loved music and he wanted to become a musician.  
  
“So I ran away from home, I took Hernesto’s guitar from his grave, this one” he said while showing the guitar. “Because I thought that he was my great grandfather, but turns out you can’t steal from the dead, so I ended up in the land if the dead, I had to find my family’s blessing, bla, bla, bla” He then proceeded to explain how he found Hector, how he helped him and how he later found out that Hector was actually his great-grandfather.  
  
“You went to the land of the dead?” Kubo asked shocked.  
  
“Yes, pretty cool right?” Miguel said proudly.  
  
“Was it nice?” Kubo asked his face full with hope and worry.  
  
“Yes, it was indeed a better place” Miguel said seriously, after looking at Kubo’s face he had an idea of why he wanted to know. Kubo looked down and nodded.  
  
“Good” he said dryly. “Please go on”  
  
“Anyway, long story short, we stopped Hernesto, but papá Hector was... (he didn’t need to know that the dead still suffered) wishing to see his daughter again, so I got out with mamá Imelda’s blessings, no conditions this time, and sang to mamá Coco the song her dad wrote for her, after that she remembered him just fine, and I got to keep the guitar! But the guitar’s curse wasn’t lifted, no far from that! You’ll never believe the places I had been, once I had to sneak in a plane back to Mexico from England!”  
  
“I will assume that that’s far away and that I know what a plane is” Kubo said smiling smugly.  
  
“It was far, thank you!” Miguel replied “the worst thing is that I always have to return home before my family notices I’m gone, otherwise they’ll be mad... but I don’t think I can made it this time, I mean, other times it was only to catch a bus or a plane, I don’t think I can time travel...” Miguel’s tone became sadder.  
  
Kubo felt empathy for him, he knew how it felt being far from home.  
  
“I will help you” Kubo promised. “I don’t know how, but promise I’ll help you”  
  
“Thanks man” Miguel thanked him smiling softly. “And hey! We got two magic musical instruments right?! I’m sure they’ll come in handy.”  
  
Kubo chuckled at Miguel’s statement. “Who said that the shamisen was the one with powers” then Kubo glanced him a look the moment they made eye contact Kubo’s eye glimmered ice cold blue. Ever since the quest with his parents it started to become more evident and noticeable the fact that he was the moon king’s grandson, he didn’t need the shamisen to control objects anymore, he could do it without the help of the music now, and every time he did it he was covered by this ghostly ice blue glimmer, he sometimes hated that, but what he minded the most was the fact that this phenomenon became stronger when full moon.  
  
“Wow... that’s so cool!! Who are you man?” Miguel asked amazed.  
  
Kubo smirked. “I’m afraid I only tell one story per day”  
  
“That’s so not fair!” Miguel exclaimed annoyed.  
  
Kubo’s smile became sad, he looked down at the floor. “Life isn’t fair.” He said softly as he mindlessly brushed the hair that covered his eyepatch. He remembers that Miguel was walking next to him. “So, about your story!” He said readjusting his mood. “It must have been difficult to grow up without music.”  
  
“Yep, it was.” Miguel admitted.  
  
“I wouldn’t stand it, music is my life” Kubo said.  
  
“How long have you been playing the shamustang?” Miguel asked.  
  
Kubo giggled “you mean the shamisen?”  
  
“Yes that one! Sorry.” Miguel said as he smiled sheepishly.  
  
“Hahaha it’s okay. I’ve been playing practically all my life, it was my mother’s, she began to teach me as soon as I was able to hold it.” Kubo said.  
  
“How old are you?” Miguel asked suddenly realizing that Kubo could pass as someone with 13 to 20 years old, he was just one of those ageless people.  
  
“Aamm I have been alive 16 years, I think” Kubo said, it was more like a doubtful statement  
  
“You think?!” Miguel asked him sarcastically.  
  
“I stopped counting after my parents died.” Kubo admitted.  
  
“Oh.” Miguel said shocked, he wasn’t expecting that answer. “I’m so sorry.”  
  
“It’s all right, it happened a long time ago. And how old are you?” Kubo said trying to change the topic.  
  
“I’m also 16” Miguel said.  
  
“So we have something else in common besides music” Kubo said smiling softly.  
  
“Yes, yes” Miguel said nodding awkwardly. “So... do you live alone? Or...”  
  
“Oh no, no actually I live with my grandfather.” Kubo said, then he looked ahead just to realize that he was at the entrance of his home. “Actually you’re about to meet him, we’re here! Grandfather, I’m back! And I brought a guest!”  
  
Miguel looked around the small cave, it was almost empty, it only had two red rocksack two cushions that worked as chairs, a fire and some plates a tea set and in the corner he could see some kind of altar that had a sword, a helmet, part of an armor, a broken monkey statue and two figure papers that Miguel recognized as Hanzo and the moon princess, the place was nice and cozy.  
  
“Well, you finally showed up, I thought I was going to have to eat all of this” an old voice said playfully.  
  
The old voice belonged to Kubo’s grandfather, an old man with a blue kimono, he had long white hair, tied up in a bun, and as his grandson, he was worryingly pale and had one of his eyes blinded.  
  
The old man looked at Miguel. “And who do we have here”  
  
“Uhhm.. I’m Miguel.. Miguel Rivera...” Miguel said nervously.  
  
“A pleasure to meet you Miguel” Kubo’s grandfather said as he leaned a little, Miguel suddenly remembered that phrase ‘A dónde vas haz lo que vez’ (wherever you go, do what you see people doing) and leaned too. “I’m Raiden, Kubo’s grandfather” Raiden continued as he returned to his normal posture.  
  
“It’s nice to meet you” Miguel said smiling politely.  
  
“He’s a musician too!” Kubo interrupted “can he stay for dinner?” He looked at his grandfather expectantly.  
  
“Why, of course! Come on you two it’s all...” Raiden had to stop as he coughed violently, once he finished he cleared his throat. “I apologize”  
  
“Grandfather, are you okay?” Kubo asked concerned.  
  
“Yes, yes Kubo, don’t you worry about me...” he said smiling to his grandson, returning to his happy self. “Now let’s eat, we don’t want our food to become rotten do we?”  
  
The all sat down, Raiden tried to serve the food, but Kubo stopped him and did the task himself, once they all had food they started to eat quietly, after the first bite Raiden broke the silence.  
  
“Miguel, that’s an unusual name”  
  
“Told you so” Kubo said to Miguel smirking.  
  
Miguel glanced him an annoyed expression before answering. “It’s an Hispanic name, pretty common where I’m from”  
  
“And where is that exactly?” Raiden asked curiously.  
  
“I’m from..” Miguel started but Kubo interrupted him  
  
“He’s from a magic future! Where people appear in tiny boxes and cars can move without horses!” He said over exaggerating everything, making Miguel and Raiden snicker.  
  
“Is that so?” Raiden asked.  
  
“Yes! And they put witchcraft in black rectangles!” Kubo said changing to his narrator's voice.  
  
“Interesting.. and how did you end up here?” Raiden asked.  
  
Kubo then proceded to tell his grandfather all that Miguel told him but with his famous voice, Miguel honestly thought that the story sounded more interesting from Kubo’s lips than from his own.  
  
“What an amazing story Miguel!” Raiden exclaimed. “And don’t worry, we’ll absolutely help you return home, you belong with your family after all...”  
  
“Thank you...” Miguel said.  
  
“But for now, we must sleep” Raiden said, it was already really late.  
  
“You can take my rocksack” Kubo said “I’ll sleep on the floor”  
  
“Are you sure? I don’t wanna cause any trouble” Miguel said ashamed.  
  
“No problem at all, and believe there’s not much difference” Kubo said.  
  
“Thanks” Miguel said  
  
“No problem” Kubo said smilingly softly, that soft smile made Miguel’s tummy feel funny, he blamed it on the food.  
  
Raiden was the first one to lay down, facing to the ceiling, Miguel was laying on the opposite side of the cave, and next to him was Kubo, he was lying a meter away from him.  
  
“Night” Miguel said smiling.  
  
“Good night” Kubo said before closing his eye.  
  
Miguel couldn’t sleepover for the first hours, the rocksack was too uncomfortable to him, he tossed around several times trying to accommodate in a comfortable position, he gave up, he was looking at the ceiling, then he heard a soft huff, he turned around to realize that besides him Kubo was asleep already.  
  
‘How the heck could he do that?!’ He thought.  
  
He stared at Kubo for some time, then he actually started looking at him, he watched his hair falling down his delicate face, his mouth murmuring some inexistent words and his chest going up and down, it was hypnotizing and relaxing in an odd way, soon Miguel’s breathing synchronized Kubo’s he relaxed and fell asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey there! this short chap is to prove that I'm still alive and to tell you beautiful people that I'll be a bit inactive for the next three weeks... Buuu... I'm sorry but finals call... and... I'LL BE BACK! I promise! vacations will come soon! please leave Kudos and comments to remember you!


	4. Chapter 4

The next morning he woke up just to find out that what happened the night before wasn’t a dream.  
He was in fact laying in the floor of a cave, staring at the ceiling, his guitar resting on a near corner, he analyzed his surroundings and he realized that it was the smell of cooking rice what woke him up.  
  
He slowly sat up and saw Kubo in the middle of the room, sitting on his knees while cooking what seemed breakfast, Miguel watched him mesmerized, his hair was loose, it barely reached his shoulders, and his silky texture could be perceived even from a mile away, he was softly humming a tune, and he looked really concentrated on his work, Miguel watched him cook with a melancholic feeling, he had never seen someone cooking so calmly, his mom, his aunts, and his abuela were like generals in war zone every time they entered the kitchen, it was nice to see someone taking their time and enjoying what they were doing. After a few minutes Kubo noticed the piercing eyes watching him, he turned around to face Miguel in a sudden way that Miguel wasn’t expecting, Miguel yelped and jumped back hitting his head in the wall in the process, and making Kubo laugh, with that childish laughter of him. In any other circumstances Miguel would have been angry, but he couldn’t help but smiled and giggle too after they finished laughing, Kubo looked at Miguel amused with that soft smile of his.  
  
“Good morning” he said biting down the giggles.  
  
“Morning” Miguel answered rubbing the back of his head, pretending not to be embarrassed.  
  
Kubo’s smile widened, he looked down at the cooking rice before saying. “Did you sleep well?”  
  
“Ammm Yeah sure, sure, it was...erm... it was good” Miguel said feeling embarrassed about being the creep that watched Kubo sleep, without any logical reason.  
  
“Good” Kubo said, still smiling, there was an awkward silence for a moment, at least it was awkward for Miguel.  
  
“How did you sleep?” He asked to break the silence.  
  
“Not bad, I mean I had better...” Kubo said not really complaining.  
  
Before the silence fell over them again, Miguel asked.  
  
“What are you making?”  
  
“Rice. Hey I have been thinking, you said you were playing the guitar before appearing in here, maybe what you were playing is the key to get you back.” Kubo said looking at Miguel again.  
  
“Maybe..” Miguel said unsurely.  
  
“Do you remember the tunes you were playing?” Kubo asked.  
  
“Ummm not... not really” Miguel said looking down at the floor.  
  
He heard the chopsticks Kubo was cooking with falling to the floor.  
  
“What do you mean you don’t remember your own songs!” Kubo exclaimed in disbelief.  
  
“I was just messing around okay! Playing random chords, not really paying attention to the world around me” Miguel said, trying to defend himself.  
  
Kubo facepalmed himself before saying. “Well, you’re going to have to remember! Because that’s honestly the only thing I can think about that makes some sense”  
  
Miguel looked down again, realizing that Kubo was right, it was the most logical thing he could think of.  
  
“So what are we gonna do?” Miguel asked.  
  
“Well, you’ll remember, we will eat breakfast, we’ll go take a bath, then we’ll go to the village ourselves, I have some errands to do, all of this while you try to remember every single detail.” Kubo said just like a mother listed her children chores.  
  
Miguel nodded, feeling scolded.  
  
“Now come sit, the food is ready.” Kubo said.  
  
Miguel obeyed, sitting cross-legged, in front of him, he accepted the plate of food, still too ashamed to look at Kubo face to face. After taking his first bite, he decided that he needed to break the ice.  
  
“Where’s your grandfather?” Miguel said suddenly noticing the sudden absence of the old man.  
  
“In the village, he always wakes up before sunrise and goes to make his errands, he’ll be here before sunset.” Kubo explained. Miguel nodded.  
  
With all of the bravery that Miguel had in him he looked up and started at Kubo, Kubo looked up too, they were looking each other eye to eye. Miguel’s dark brown eyes vs Kubo’s golden one, Kubo tried to look serious, he frowned, Miguel frowned too, they started at each other for almost a long minute, until Kubo snickered and started to giggle out of nowhere, Miguel did so too, Kubo shut his eye and giggled harder before saying.  
  
“Hahahaha, you’re funny!” Kubo exclaimed.  
  
Miguel raised an eyebrow, he hasn’t said anything, but he silently accepted the compliment anyway.  
  
“You’re pretty amazing too..” Miguel said softly and a bit ashamed.  
  
Kubo smirked, and removed some of his hair away from his face, reviling his eyepatch. Miguel watched him astonished.  
  
“What?” Kubo asked smirking, already thinking that Miguel was starting at his eyepatch.  
  
Miguel looked away quickly. “Nothing... it’s just... I have never seen a guy my age with so long hair...” Miguel admitted.  
  
That caught Kubo off guard, he was used of people talking about his eyepatch, but never about his hair. “Umm thank you, I guess...” he said Miguel could swear there was a hint of a blush in his cheeks, but before he could analyze it, Kubo continued. “I was about to said, something similar about your hair, actually...”  
  
Miguel snapped of his thoughts. “Really, what?” He asked intrigued.  
  
“I have never seen a man with such short hair... It’s kind of a tradition to wear it long...” Kubo explained.  
  
“Oh” Miguel said, he was found out of words.  
  
“Actually I would like to cut mine, it’s really difficult to take care of it.” Kubo admitted.  
  
“Don’t!” Miguel said without thinking, Kubo looked at him confused. “You... should... keep the tradition!” Miguel saved himself.  
  
Kubo just smirked and looked down at his food. “Alright, whatever you say...”  
  
Miguel looked down at his food. They continued to eat in a more comfortable silence. Once they were done Kubo was the first one to get up.  
  
“Are you done there?” He asked Miguel.  
  
Miguel nodded and let Kubo take his plate.  
  
Kubo picked up the dishes, his Shamisen, and his bag and started to head outside of the cave.  
  
Miguel just watched him getting outside and starting to walk down.  
  
“Are you coming?” Kubo yelled already in his way down.  
  
Miguel snapped out of it and quickly grabbed his guitar and ran outside to catch up with him.  
  
Unlike the previous day, the walk was quiet, but for Miguel’s surprise, it was a comfortable silence, not like those awkward ones they had before. They walked peacefully until they reached a lake. Once there they left their instruments near a tree far from the water, Kubo took out of his bag a small piece of soap and started to wash the dishes.  
  
Miguel wanted to help but there was only one piece of soap, so he sat next to him and make a small chitchat about the weather.  
  
“... So yes, I do like cold weather, but really rather for it to be just crisp...y..” Miguel was out of words right before he finished, because Kubo stopped cleaning the dishes and was now stripping off his clothes.  
Miguel watched astonished and confused, he couldn’t look away ‘WHY CAN’T I LOOK AWAY?!’ He thought panicked. ‘Because it’s not normal for people to strip right in the middle of a conversation!’ He concluded.  
  
He watched Kubo toss away his blouse/shirt and his leggings until he was just left in his underwear, ‘How the hell is he so skinny?’ Miguel thought. ‘He doesn’t really look like a man, he looks, like, like... pretty’ Miguel tossed those thoughts away. He watched Kubo backing up a little, he gave him a smirk, before running at the lake and diving, splashing Miguel in the process.  
  
“Aahhhh!” Miguel yelled after being splashed. “What the?!”  
  
Kubo resurfaced and gasped, taking a deep breath, then he looked at Miguel and started laughing.  
  
“It’s not funny! What the hell are you thinking?!” Miguel asked him annoyed.  
  
“Hahaha come one! Jump in! We can’t smell when we go to town!” Kubo exclaimed.  
  
“Nah ah! No way!” Miguel exclaimed.  
  
“Come on it’s not that bad! Water is fine!” Kubo exclaimed.  
  
“Forget it man! I’m not going in!” Miguel declared.  
  
“Fine, then I guess you’re gonna smell during your time in here, villagers are not going to be so friendly with you....” Kubo warned him in a silly voice.  
  
“Well then tell them to call me Mr. Stinky, cause I’m not going in!” Miguel said.  
  
Kubo just chuckled before saying “Coward!”  
  
That caught Miguel’s attention. “What did you just called me?”  
  
Kubo smirked. “Oh I’m sorry, didn’t you heard, I called you a coward!” He said jokingly.  
  
“Okay! That’s it!” Miguel said before unzipping his hoodie, then he proceeded to strip himself until he was just in his boxers “I’m gonna show you!”  
  
He said before jumping in, splashing Kubo this time, when he resurfaced he was soaked.  
  
“Haha. Who’s the coward now?!” He said as he cleared his face of hair and water.  
  
“Still you” Kubo declared smirking.  
  
“Oh really?” Miguel asked sarcastically.  
  
“Yes” Kubo couldn’t almost finish because Miguel tackled him down the water, after a few seconds he resurfaced again.  
  
“Now admit I’m not a coward!” Miguel demanded playfully.  
  
“How about, if I do something better?” Kubo asked him.  
  
“What?” Miguel asked him confused, then he was surprised by Kubo who was tackling him thin time, Miguel had to admit he never expected him to be that freakishly strong.  
  
Once Miguel resurfaced he gasped for air. “Oh you little..!” Miguel said before he attacked Kubo again, but this time he was anticipating the attack, so the wrestle.  
  
They kept wrestling and laughing for a while, until they swam to the surface to get the soap and actually get cleaned.  
  
Miguel watched Kubo wash his hair and smiled, he kept having that fuzzy feeling, he didn’t know what it was, neither what was causing, but he could figure that out later.  
  
When they were done, they washed his clothes by hand with the remaining soap, and after that they waited for it to dry, why the laid down on the shore, warming up under the early sun.  
  
“I can’t believe you got me to do that” Miguel said breaking the silence.  
  
“At least you are decent now” Kubo replied lazily.  
  
A cold autumn breeze sends shivers down Miguel’s body.  
  
“You cold?” Kubo asked lazily.  
  
Miguel was about to answer that he was alright, but before he had the chance to Kubo moved lazily and laid down in Miguel’s chest.  
  
Miguel will never admit that that actually send more shivers down his spine than the breeze, he tried not to think about the fact they were both only wearing his underwear, or that his heartbeat was fast, and Kubo could definitely hear it, he was now using his bare chest as a pillow after all. Instead, he swallowed hard and felt his face getting hot.  
  
“What.. umm what do you think you’re doing?” He asked trying not to sound nervous, he glanced down just to see Kubo’s silky hair spread along his chest and shoulder.  
  
“Body heat you idiot” Kubo replied plainly, Miguel was suddenly aware of the fact that Kubo was in fact really warm.  
  
“Ooh... umm.. Okay” That’s all that Miguel could think of, his brain wasn’t in the sharpest mood.  
  
He thought about what to do, how to react, should he surround him with his arms, should he ask him to move, he could touch his hair, he would be lying if he said that he wasn’t thinking about it, but instead he opted for staying right there, so he froze with his arms by his sides while counting the seconds.   
  
When the sun ascended a little Kubo groaned. “Well, time to get up” He said slowly getting up from his spot on Miguel’s chest. “Miguel hurry, we will be late!” He said as he started to get dressed.  
  
Miguel laid there on the floor for a little longer, his face red as a tomato, and wide scared eyes looking up at the sky, there was that fuzzy feeling again, and it felt more intense now.  
  
“Miguel!” Kubo yelled before tossing him his shirt, it landed right on his face, Miguel removed the shirt as he calmed down, he got up slowly and walked towards Kubo who was already dressed, Miguel proceeded to do dress quietly.  
  
“What?” Kubo asked innocently as he combed his hair with his fingers.  
  
Miguel was about to snap at him but when he looked up he froze while watching Kubo tying his hair, Kubo smirked at him and repeated the question this time more amused.  
  
Miguel swallowed hard “Nothing” he said plainly and looked away quickly.  
  
“Okay....” Kubo said raising an eyebrow. “Let’s go! We’ll be late! You don’t want to miss the story, do you?” Kubo asked before running to his instrument.  
  
Miguel hurried to finish getting dressed, and ran to his guitar too, catching up with Kubo, they ran to the village, Kubo’s laugh was so contagious that mad Miguel laughs too, and forget about the whole thing, there was that fuzzy feeling again, but he will figure it out later.  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm alive!! Just been having the worst creative block of my life!! Sorry I took that long, won't happen again, promise.


End file.
